Pictures and Regret
by Belldere
Summary: There's nothing Sirius likes more than making up for lost time with Harry... especially if it leads to freaking the kid out a little...


"There's James getting whacked over the head by your mum Harry, she was a scary lady, and look, here's Remus after he finished 'explaining' electricity to James and I, it's good for you to see how evil he really was. Nobody ever seemed to believe me on that one…"

"I wonder why."

"Shut up ya cheeky little weirdo. See look here, that's James before he found out he was an ugly git" Harry leaned eagerly over the picture Sirius had been holding out to him in the dusty photo album he had accidentally left behind in Grimmauld Place after moving in with James all those years ago.

At first Harry had been apprehensive about the book, which appeared to be an old tome detailing how to brew deadly potions, but it turned out to be a cover for Sirius' pictures that he hadn't wanted his mother to destroy or confiscate, had she known what they really were.

James was grinning wickedly out of the photo, dressed in his Quidditch gear and waving sarcastically at the camera with his broom hoisted lazily up on one shoulder, he messed up his hair once then poked his tongue out at whoever was holding the camera, until the camera man threw, what looked like, a rubber haddock at him.

At first many of the Weasley's, Hermione and a few Order Members had been curiously peering at the pictures as Sirius flicked through and explained what was happening in them all, it was nice to see Harry smiling for once, laughing even, but after a while everyone in the room became increasingly aware of the fact that they were staring at Harry and he was becoming more uncomfortable with the attention by the minute.

So slowly that he didn't even notice, the room emptied until it was just Harry and Sirius sitting at the long dining table in Grimmauld Place's grimy kitchen.

Harry glanced up at Sirius, grinning "I thought you said I looked like him?"

Sirius looked up at Harry proudly "yeah but no Godson of mine could ever be ugly. Not sure on the git part yet though" he smiled cheekily at Harry who returned the smile before reverting back to looking through the photographs.

Harry smiled infinitesimally when he spotted a picture of Lily nailing James in the face with a snowball before he managed to chase her down and kiss her, the whole time laughing away happily, obviously in love.

He had to laugh out loud when he saw Remus and Peter Pettigrew covered in, what looked like, chocolate pudding while Sirius and James rolled about, laughing, in the background.

Harry paused for a whole minute on a photo of James and Sirius standing, arm in arm, in front of the Three Broomsticks, smiling mischievously and laughing away evilly.

Harry's full attention went into absorbing each and every detail of each and every photo but after a while it became hard for Sirius to keep his mind on the pictures, his eyes kept drifting over to the small miracle that was Harry. Sirius couldn't believe how much it filled him with joy just to spend a moment's time with him.

He really enjoyed being able to pick out personality traits or habits that were like Lily or James or both, but what he really loved was finding out all the things that made Harry entirely his own person. Like the way his rare laugh lit up his whole face, the way he flattened his hair when he met strangers, the way he acted around his friends and even just the way he sat, like he was always ready to make room for one more person.

Sirius became so wrapped up in his thoughts about his brilliant Godson that he failed to notice that said Godson was getting dangerously close to 'The Dare Files' at the back of the album. At the very last second Sirius managed to slam the book shut with a sheepish grin on his face.

Harry looked up at him quizzically "we'll save it for when I want to emotionally scar you" Sirius said with a grin.

Sirius had to blink in surprise when Harry pulled, what Sirius thought was probably, the best pleading face he had ever seen. The kid looked genuinely miserable, Sirius had to be impressed.

"Oh please. I invented the puppy-dog look Harry; it's not going to work on me, no matter how good you are." Harry huffed and crossed his arms irritably, but he truly didn't mind, it was just fun to spend time with Sirius.

"You know I'm definitely going to get that book before I have to go back to school, right?" Harry said with a grin.

Sirius just smirked back cockily "good luck with that."

"I won't need luck. I have Weasley twins… not to mention Ron and Hermione…" Harry said, looking completely guileless, only a glint in his eye shattered his innocent tone.

Sirius looked to be a mixture of pale, proud, horrified and speculative "you're evil too!? Are you sure you're not my illegitimate son?" he asked suddenly with a grin "because I've never been more proud of any other kid ya little troll."

Harry's whole body seemed to radiate light from happiness as he heard, for the first time, that somebody was proud of him.

It was one of the best evenings in his young life and definitely a highlight out of the short time he had spent with his Godfather.

Though he did slightly regret stealing 'The Dare Files' later that night, even if it was hilarious.


End file.
